Mum and Theo left. Max got up, left his dishes on the table and went back to his room.
I should leave it all. It was his job. But if I didn’t do it now, I’d have to do it when I got home. I washed the dishes.
Then I asked Max to come and dry them. ‘Be right there,’ he said.
Like that was going to happen. Slacker.
I left them on the bench.
As Davey and I left the house, I shouted, ‘Max! We’re going now. Lock up. And don’t forget to dry the dishes.’
I shut the door in the middle of his answer. Davey and I walked to his school, four blocks from home. ‘Have a good day, buddy.’ I watched him run inside to dump his bag.
I biked to Tia’s house. She’d gone. Mrs Manu said, ‘She left a message, Ruby. But if she wants to say those things to you, she can do it herself.’ She smiled at me. ‘She’d better get over herself before next week. She’s going to buy a new top to …’
I held up a hand. ‘Don’t tell me! It’s the school tour from Brazil, isn’t it? She wants to wow all those hot boys!’
Mrs Manu laughed. ‘Right first time. But she’ll get something awful if you’re not with her.’
I smiled. Mrs Manu was great. So was Tia. Usually.
I biked to school by myself. I hated her being mad at me.
When I went into our form room, she turned her back. She was with Carly and Megan. That was tricky. All four of us were friends. I sat by myself. If Tia wouldn’t talk to me, I couldn’t talk to the others either.
Carly looked over at me, turned back to Tia and asked her a question. Tia shrugged her shoulders and said something I couldn’t hear. Carly and Megan glanced at me. They looked upset.
Mr Wood breezed in before they could come over. ‘Okay, troops. Let’s start the week. Who’s here and who’s not.’ He picked up the roll book. The list of girls started with Miriama Api. Megan Chapman was next. Carly Griffiths was five names further down. Tia Manu was in the middle. Ruby Yarrow was the girl at the end of the alphabet.
I wouldn’t mind so much, except that every teacher always called the names the same way: Miriama … Megan … Carly … Tia … and Ruby Yarrow.
I was the lucky one who got the and plus both names. I always hoped that one day there would be a new girl called Zoe Zimmerman.
I could ask him not to say both my names.
No. I couldn’t! I just couldn’t.
Did Tia mean it when she said she wouldn’t talk to me until I got some backbone? Would telling Mr Wood about my name mean I had backbone? I shook my head. No, and it didn’t really matter. Not really. Backbone was for important stuff.
Tia walked right past me out of the room. She didn’t even look at me. Carly and Megan let her go. Megan said, ‘She’s in a snot with you, Ruby.’
I pulled a face. ‘I know. I’m sorry. I don’t want to drag you two into it.’
Carly said, ‘She’ll get over it. She’s so busy with kapa haka we won’t see much of her anyway.’
‘They won’t practise so much after the Brazil visit,’ Megan warned. ‘That gives her a couple of weeks to get over herself.’
Thirty kids from Brazil were coming in mid-March. Tia would be part of the welcome and Mr Tahu, their new kapa haka teacher, wasn’t happy with the standard. He worked them hard.
Before we went into English, Megan said, ‘Are you two going to apply for Brazil?’
Carly shook her head. ‘Nah. They don’t speak English.’
‘Ruby?’
I shook my head. ‘No point. They wouldn’t choose me.’
Megan stepped out of the way of other kids busting to get to class. ‘But would you? If you thought you had a chance?’
I shrugged. ‘We haven’t got four thousand dollars.’
Carly shook her finger at me. ‘Ruby Yarrow! Didn’t you listen? That’s why they make us apply a year before we go. To earn the money.’
I laughed. ‘Okay! A month in Brazil?’ I thought of getting away from my family, from Tia, from people who didn’t know I couldn’t read or write properly — for a whole month. ‘Yes, I’d apply.’
Megan clapped her hands. ‘Fantastic! I want to, but I don’t want to if nobody else does.’
I opened my mouth. Carly slapped her hand over it. ‘Too late! You said you would, so you’ve got to.’
I pulled her hand away and laughed. ‘All right. I’ll apply.’ Anything to help out a mate.
Mr Wood handed out the application forms after lunch. I took one. Tia was busy making sure she didn’t look at me. She didn’t notice.
She hadn’t spoken to me all day.